by George Edward Hardwick                                                                                               BC1 STARTUP HOME
Wednesday May 13, 1015 This afternoon I went up to Spark “a Boulder co-working space  designed to connect students to the startup 9startup community. At 1:00 p.m Fabien Dodard and Sara Smith from Victor & Spoils were next on deck. Victor Spoils is another ad agency off shoot of  Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.  Yesterday I wrote about Made. Smith and Doddard gave a talk titled, Content Marketing and What it Can Do for You. 

In a world where everybody and their mother has a blog website, facebook page, and twitter account, standing out with a creative, provocative story is difficult. While the idea of going viral might seem impossible to the up and coming blogger, Fabieng Dodard and Sara Smith brought the concept back to its basics. This talk was based around the idea of creative marketing, and how the best way to stand out in the incredibly competitive world of creative story telling in the chaotic internet, is by sticking to the basics.

The talk was centralized around 5 main characteristics of how to tell a great story: Theme…Plot…Characters…Details…Tone.
Using the example of the viral story, “Why I Gave Up a $95,000 Job to Move to an Island and Scoop Ice Cream”, Dodard and Smith gave us the breakdown.

Theme “If you are constantly thinking you need a vacation, maybe you need a new life?”
Plot: Leaving a successful job to work as an ice cream scooper.
Characters: Islanders, Parents, Herself, and a Chicken.
Details: Chicken casually in her bathroom during a morning pee, the view, the beach, the lifestyle.
Tone: Humoristic and Genuine.

Sure, the concept is very basic. Anyone who has been through a middle school English class could roll their eyes and sarcastically repeat this outline. But Dodard and Smith’s point lifted the veil on the confounded chaos of the media. Though going viral may seem like magic, it is based around the same key characteristics that we have always been taught. In some ways, it is better not to try and re-invent the wheel. Smith and Dodard haven’t.

George Hardwick is blogging for Boulder Channel 1 from Boulder Startup Week invite him to parties

To be a part of Boulder Channel 1s Start-Up TV Special you can find our more by Downloading or PDF Here or Call us at 303-447-8531